Study: U.S. doctors reduce charity care

American doctors, short of time and squeezed by hard-bargaining health plans, are less likely to see patients who can't pay than they were a decade ago, according to a study released last week.

A survey by the national Center for Studying Health System Change found that about two-thirds of U.S. doctors provided "charity care" - down from three-fourths in 1996.

The trend is alarming, the study authors said, because it comes as the number of uninsured or underinsured Americans is on the rise. The study also found that charity care received by people without insurance declined by nearly one-fifth during the decade.

The decrease in charity care - service offered free or at reduced rates - was seen across all regions and specialties, the study said.

Your slam against teachers merely demonstrates your ignorance. Doctors in Canada don't get paid as well as doctors in the US, but they would still be among the highest paid professionals in the country averaging well over a $120,000 per year. And this in a system that delivers just as much care overall for considerably less money. 20% of our government spending goes to healthcare, while in Canada it's only 15%. And when you add huge amounts of private spending on top of that, the only possible conclusion is that our healthcare system is nothing but a money funnel to a lot of folks who don't do much but lobby congress to maintain the status quo.

The Canadian system gives more bang for the buck than our system, any way you want to look at it.